Christmas 2008

In Changwon, it's never cold enough for real snow, so I'd given up hope of a white Christmas in July. There was no sadness there. As a kid, my dad used to plow, so we would always wish for snowless Christmases. This Christmas, with the snowlessness guaranteed, and my family tucked far away on another continent, I wasn't certain what to wish for. I just kind of let Christmas happen. 

On Christmas Eve, I went to a bar called Mujur. It's on a lower level of the Changwon International Hotel. My friend Andy had agreed to play Santa for a great cover band named R.E.D. Andy is the jolliest man I know, and the evening was fantastic. Two glasses of wine, a complimentary Guiness pillow/blanket, and one dance with Santa later, I was tired though. It was one a.m. and I was prepared for the cold, lonely walk through the quiet late night streets.

Strangely, when I emerged from the bar, the streets were far from deserted. All of the stores, the bakeries, the restaurants, the boutiques, were still open and crowded. People in various states of sobriety walked merrily along, stopping into little street vendor stalls for fish on a stick, and various shaped pastries with sweet beans inside. My friends and I even met two chipmunks (well, people in chipmunk costumes) that told us that dressing like  chipmunks reminded them of Christmas and made them feel happy. While I'm still not certain how it reminded them of Christmas, it made me happy too. Sleep was warm and tinsly. 

The visions of sugar plums were short lived, though.  I'd invited a few exceptionally wonderful people to my house for some pre-church Christmas cheer, eggs, and a wide assortment of caffeinated beverages. I really enjoyed everyone's company, and was so happy to be doing something that actually felt like Christmas.  Our pre-church breakfast went well enough that I think baby Jesus would be proud (except the questionable playlist that included songs by Bad Religion and let us listen to the Bloodhound Gang's "The Roof is on Fire" as we went out the door on our way to the service).

Christmas was sunny, bright, warm, and cheery. The entire day filled me with joy, and the evening proved the best part of all. At 8:45pm, Eric, my boyfriend and best friend, stepped off a plane into the Korean wonderland that is my daily life. 

The Daily Life in Holiday Mode

I've been prolonging writing an entry until I had some pictures, but I still don't have pictures and 20 days is too long to continue with my procrastination. So I will write to you about my daily, pictureless, life.

My university classes are now over, and instead I now meet my friends at Paris every morning at 7:30 am. Paris is our lovingly romantic nickname for Paris Baguette, the local bakery, where even the garlic bread has sugar on it. Bread is a Western concept, and Koreans don't seem to understand that bread is not the same as cake, and that all bread should not be sweet (strangely, one of my favorite foods here is a slightly sweetened pastry with spicy chicken and vegetables tucked yummily away in the center). 

Breakfast is not the reason for our daily meetings, though. Instead, we wait for our Master to come pick us up in a black van. Do not be alarmed; I have not joined a Satanic cult. No, I have joined hapkido.  Five days a week, for an hour, five crazy waygooks and a wonderful Korean woman practice hapkido (a traditional form of Korean martial arts) at a hagwon. For the most part, we're all hopelessly out of shape, and it's quite a comical experience; however, Elizabeth assured me that if I worked out for five days a week for 7 months I'd be in better shape than I am now. 

After rolling on my head and punching things for an hour, I work a hopelessly long day before going to yet another Korean hagwon (you'd think working at a hagwon for 9 hours a day would be enough). This hagwon is called "Jazz Belly", and even more ridiculous than the name is the fact that I've begun belly dancing too.  Several of the women from work and I shake our jingly scarves and body parts to an interesting amalgam of English and Korean pop music, which was very impressively combined with a poppy version of "The Little Drummer Boy" tonight. The whole experience is hopelessly embarrassing, but I find myself consistently drawn back for more.

My spontaneous Korean life seems to be getting ridiculously scheduled, but I'm enjoying all of it. My only concern now is finding enough time to prepare for Christmas- only ten more days!